The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-26

me, and therefore the suSgHlon above.
hope Mr.. SAKE will pardon n but I am of
the opinion that such answers he has made
will not convince many skeI cs.
Richmond. IU.
Rev. ]. B. SAKE in Reply to til Above Articles.
My article seems to 1--we attracted
considerable attention. 4 will respond
briefly to some of the cAticisms upon
it. Mr.. Marsh thinks tf4 New Testa-
ment contradicts the OIL and quotes
Matt. v. 43. The refers#c Zee is not to
the Old Testament, bJ3 probably to
some Rabbinical writinH No part of
the Bible commands US tdhate enemies,
though such hatred was c4mmon, if not
universal. If the Bible had not been
inspired, it would ost$ertainly have
contained such command. He also
thinks the character as9ribed to God
contradictory. He is angrH repents, ETC.;
and yet he is love, omnise*snt, and so on.
suppose such objections were once re.
garded as having force. Ealileo came
near losing his life for &eaching that
the earth went round The sun, thus
contradicting the Bible Which declared
the sun rose and set I'VE laugh at
such opinions now. Ev&ry boy knows
that the Bible speaks acEording to the
appearance, just as we % in our ordi-
nary speech. Suppose we should say,
instead of the sun rose, the earth's axis
turned into such a position as to per-
NIT the sun to be seen That would
be worse than anything ever told of
Boston girl! But this way of speaking
according to the appearance, was much
more common in the poe languages
aofa aehe East, szssn wfsli sft was a,
common idiom. Everybody understood
it. When God was said to repent, he
appeared to change the course of provi-
Dental dealings; when angry to inaict
pain, or bring calamities. Our modern
critics are not to assume that these old
Bible writers were fools especially they
are not to predicate such assumptions
On their own ignorance of the use of
language in those days. 1t was COM
mon use of language to say one had
seen God, when he had seen a messen-
ger of God, or any manifestation of di-
vine power or glory. l could produce
hundred instances. To pretend that
such declaration contradicts st. John,
would be as ridiculous as was the papal
charge against Galileol
The Tooth psalm is simply prayer,
in the highly rhetorical and fgurative
language of the East, for justice upon
great criminals and Christ teaches the
same doctrine. Because he also teaches
something more, does not make him
contradict David. remember to have
read long list of similar 'contradic-
tions," prepared by Thomas Paine. 1
could easily drive coach and six through
every one of these objections.
We claim no perfection" for the
Bible. I, for one, do not believe in
plenary inspiration. 1t contains rev.
elation; but much of it is simply his
tory. 1t nowhere claims to be ''inspir-
ed all through )" therefore it might
contain one, or many contradictions
without "invalidating the authority of
the WHOLE" as Mr.. Bennett says. Why
he regards DR.. Beecher's answer as a
'quibble," or unsatisfactory, he does
not say. The rope might have broken.
1t often occurs in modern times, when
ropes are much better made than they
were of old in the East. l have read of
such instances in the newspapers within
a few years. If it did, the two accounts
are harmonious. This may not satisfy
every 'honestly doubling mind - but
you can't charge contradictions" when
so simple, reasonable" and probable
supposition will dispose of the difficulty.
That the Hebrew word rendered
"day" in the account of creation, orig
inally aud literally meant a period of
twenty-four hours, no one ever doubt
ed; and the English word means pre-
clsely the same. Therefore, in effect, -
says Mr.. Bennett, "the work of crea-
tion was performed in exactly six days
of tweuty-four hours each" Such
reasoning ought to make Aristotle turn
in his grave If you could only COM
plete the syllogism Major PROPOSE
tion': day literally means twenty-four
hours. Minor: it is never used in
an accommodated sense. Conclusion /:
therefore, etc. When L wrote to a
friend, as 1 did month ago, "Sueh
things were not done in your mothers
day." l referred to some particular
twenty-four hours of his lifetime of
three-seore and ten years Common
sense is a good thing to have about
when reading any book. How many